Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität – WWU/UKM

At the University of Muenster, Germany, two facilities will work together in MIAMI. The Department of Pediatric Rheumatology and Imunology and the Institute of Immunology both are research facilities that comprise about 40 persons including physicians, biologists, chemists, technical assistants etc. These institutions dispose of all research equipment in the field of immunology. Our main focus is the innate immune system in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. The Department of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology is the leading group of MIAMI.

Both the Department of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology and the Institute of Immunology have a broad expertise in the field of S100-biology regarding pathogenesis and use as biomarkers in seronegative arthritis. In cooperation with UGent and UMCN we will define the role of these proteins for the pathogenesis of murine models of arthritis (WP1) and will use these novel biomarkers in optical imaging (WP2). We will use quantitative assays for S100-proteins for definition of active disease, remission, prediction of response to therapy or flares/extension of disease and for identification of populations at risk during preclinical disease stages (WP3 and WP5). We will closely cooperate with Bühlmann for development of novel S100-assays (WP6).